Weekend Agenda: Summer of Luuuvre Edition

bylucky and the mickonJuly 8, 2011

The weekend is heeeeeeah. Get out there and see a show! And then sit around and talk about all this stuff…

This week, the inimitable Jesse North invited us to be guests on Stage Rush TV and we jumped at the chance. All in all, we think things turned out pretty well. The Mick even kept her promise to use the word “boner” no more than two times. She thinks this is pretty damn impressive given the fact that Steel Burkhardt was discussed. Also discussed: Broadway in Bryant Park, and the upcoming 2011-12 Broadway Season. Go check it out!

In news that made our hearts race a little faster this week, Michael Esper has been cast in Nightingale, the new Duncan Sheik musical that’s opening tonight at Vassar College’s Powerhouse Theater. Predictions: It’ll be sexist and pretentious with hinky lyrics and we will love it and want to see it 1,000 times.

Newsflash: the producers of Wonderland are delusional. This week, in an interview with the St. Petersburg Times, they really went the extra mile to drive that point home. (You know, just in case their decision to mount that stupid show on Broadway in the first place hadn’t already proved as much.) In said interview, Judy Lisi attempted to shift some of the blame for the show’s failure onto… starlet Janet Dacal’s happy love life. That is correct. Because the epic disaster of a book, chintzy set and derivative drivel Wildhorn attempted to call a score are fully above blame. Let’s be real here. The true danger to look out for when mounting a Broadway musical is one of your hardworking, dedicated actors falling in love and finding happiness.

Hair made its return to NYC this week, opening in previews at the cavernous St. James Theatre, which last played host to the distinctly un-hippy-ish American Idiot. Our bet? That Billie Joe Armstrong left some hilarious shit — possibly literally — up in that theater.

The positive buzz surrounding Des McAnuff’s revival of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival is wafting so strongly across the border that some folks are already insinuating that a Broadway transfer is imminent. Our thought? Bring in on over, baby! It’s been too long since we’ve had ourselves some Brent Carver on Broadway. Plus, you can never have too many passion plays in one season.